Hello all and welcome back to Tim in Japan.

On today's episode, a street food tour of Tokyo's Asakusa.

Asakusa is a Tokyo neighborhood located near Skytree and is well known for its abundance of street food, shopping, and sightseeing opportunities.

So come along with me, Tim, on this tasty tour of some Japanese delicacies.

First stop is a popular soba joint by the name of Owariya.

Their claim to fame?

Gigantic shrimp tempura and silky smooth soba noodles.

The tempura is light and crisp, fried to perfection, and the soba noodles are delightfully springy and refreshing.

Much softer and more delicate than the standard coarse heavy buckwheat noodles.

Despite being in a tourist area, the shop seems quite popular with the locals as well.

I'd easily recommend it, but lines do form quickly so keep that in mind.

With breakfast out of the way, we head just a few steps down the street to Kaminarimon.

This gate serves as the main entrance to a street food paradise.

Once inside, we arrive at Nakamise Dori Street.

An iconic tourist destination, this main street is jam-packed with people, souvenirs, and most importantly, delicious treats.

Walking just a block further down, we arrive at Denboin Dori.

For our first street food stop, Asakusa Menchi.

So juicy.

And conveniently located right next door, we stopped in at Toyofuku to grab some karepan.

Just across the street is Asakusa Anshin-ya, for a giant piece of Taiwanese fried chicken.

So the fried chicken place is right there, and the monjayaki place and the karepan place are right there.

Just all on the same street.

And main Asakusa stretch is right there.

And there's some vending machines right there.

Well, you can't see it, but it's there.

And you know what they say, one good chicken deserves another.

I was really looking forward to this award-winning karaage, but unfortunately, reality is often disappointing.

Though as a neat consolation, Asakusa's Festival Mikoshi was on display right next door.

With our bellies full, it was about time to do some shopping.

Oh cool, yeah, a temple one.

Pretty cool.

Turn left.

Located just a short walk away is the legendary Kappabashi Kitchenware Town, named for the wily kappa of Japanese legend.

Kappabashi is one long street, lined with a menagerie of cooking-adjacent stores selling all sorts of kitchen-themed goods.

Shaved ice makers, pizza ovens, pots, pans, utensils, tools, kitchen gadgets of all kinds.

Whatever your cooking needs, head to Kappabashi.

But the reason we're here is for a knife.

Every single one of these stores has amazing service with incredible attention to detail.

Eventually, I settled on this sharp fellow from Tsubaya World.

Handcrafted, razor sharp, beautiful.

Wrapping up our shopping expedition, it was time for a refreshing treat on a warm spring day.

So we just went to this little gelato shop called I'm Mikan, which is like orange in Japanese, or like a specific kind of orange.

You know, we were trying to order, and I was like talking to her, and I was asking her like what her favorite ones are, and there was like an obasan, you know, like old lady there, and I was just like sort of chatting with them in Japanese, saying I'm from Los Angeles, and they were like, oh your Japanese is so good, and they were like super, super nice.

The gelato was amazing.

Some of the best I've ever had, especially like the orangey flavor, and really reminded me of this nostalgic kind of old lemon, like ice I used to get as a kid called Del's Lemonade.

And then she was like so nice.

After we ate, we told her how good it was, and then she came out and talked to us more, and she actually had really, really good English.

She got to speak a little more, and she gave us this Mikan from Ehime, which is I guess where they make the gelato, because that's their specialty, is this kind of Mikan, growing it and making products from it.

And so, yeah, just wanted to remember that experience, and here's the Mikan, and the place is called I'm Mikan.

So if you're ever in Asakusa, definitely check it out.

And one more quick snack before heading back, takoyaki.

But we actually came here for one specific kind, that is takosen, an Osaka specialty we happened to miss on our trip there.

And here's a look at this cool group of Asakusa-themed gachapon.

And now for a quick stop at the local donki.

In addition to selling just about everything in existence, the Asakusa branch lures you in with this giant tropical fish tank.

This is why we're here.

Now, let's slow things down a bit with a calming riverside walk.

Is it really that spicy?

Oh, sorry.

It's okay.

After snacking and chilling for a bit, a pleasant evening stroll yielded this serendipitous find, an extraordinary local shio-pan bakery.

We just so happened to see people lined up here and stopped by on a whim, which turned out to be an excellent idea.

This was bar none the best shio-pan I've ever had, and that's the thing about Japan, if you see locals lined up anywhere, there's always a good reason for it.

So do yourself a favor and jump in line if you can.

It's so light and airy, yet crispy on the outside.

Buttery, salty.

And rounding things off, we head deeper into the city, straight into the heart of Ginza for some more noodles.

Welcome to Yamachan Ginza, famous for their tonkotsu ramen.

A simple yet comforting and cozy atmosphere, dishing up some of the best tonkotsu ramen I've ever had.

An easy recommendation, come and try this place out.

And what episode of Tim in Japan would be complete without settling in to some konbini desserts.

Wow, so solid.

And that will about do it for this episode of Tim in Japan.

I ended up experimenting a bit with this video as a lot of it was recorded on my phone near the end of our trip.

I ended up leaving the big camera in my bag as we did a lot of walking around, trying out food in crowded, narrow areas.

In reality, this was shot over 2-3 days, so I mashed it all together into one big street food crawl kind of video.

Our apartment was located right near this main Asakusa stretch, so we got to explore and discover the area a bit over time, which is a lot of fun in its own way.

I always love getting a glimpse of what daily living is like for the locals.

Hopefully you guys still enjoyed it and had some fun.

Coming up, I still have lots of Tim in Japan in the pipeline, and future episodes will feature a lot more footage from the main camera, so stay tuned for that.

As for Asakusa, an amazing little pocket of Tokyo with an abundance of great food, shopping, and sightseeing to do.

Since it's a bit farther from the main city center, you can often find some great places to stay without breaking the bank.

There's so much good food and train access is quite convenient, so give it a look on your next trip to Tokyo.

For more Tim in Japan, be sure to follow me on Instagram and drop on by the Discord.

But as always, thank you so much for watching, and I'll catch you in the next episode.